A press conference is held today to introduce the coronavirus situation in Shanghai.

The ZhaotongRoad residential area will be downgraded to low-risk area at 6pm today, and two local hospitals will reopen their doors next week after lockdown, said Wu Jinglei, director of Shanghai's health commission.

The area was listed as medium-risk on January 21 after residents living in the area were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.

Three new locally transmitted cases were reported today, two of which were close contacts of early patients and the third lives in the same residential area with an an early confirmed case. They showed symptoms after they were under quarantine since January 21 and 22, Wu said.

“They are on the chain of transmission, so the epidemic in the city is still under control,” said Dr Wu Fan, deputy director of Fudan University’s medical college and a leading expert from Shanghai's COVID-19 medical team.

All contacts of the three patients have been put under quarantine and tested negative.

Health authorities also conducted tests on 5,180 environment samples, among which 35 collected from the patients' residences and workplaces tested positive.

Renji Hospital's Puxi branch and Shanghai Cancer Center's Xuhui branch will resume normal operations on February 8 and 9, respectively, following a 14-day lockdown.

The lockdownwas imposed after logistics workers at the hospitals tested positive for the virus.